Roadtrip - Laoag-Manila-Bangkok - part 4

Laoag-Manila-Bangkok

So we made it to Bangkok, a little bit delayed but surprisingly dry (-:
The night bus to Manila was ok, but not as much sleep as expected. I would actually recommend the new bus that goes from Laoag to Manila, Florida Bus has a sleeper bus for 800PHP and also a Super Deluxe bus, and the second one is actually more comfortable then the sleeper. the seats are wider and more space for luggage and all for the same price.
We picked up our second kite bag again at Anna’s house, too bad we did not really have time to enjoy her family's coffee from their own farm, due to the taxi waiting outside. So we spend the time at the worst airport in Asia instead... Manila NAIA Terminal 1... donno what the Pilipino think’s about that terminal, but it is the worst... one restaurant outside, totally overpriced and not allowed inside till 2.5h before your flight due to limited space in the check in area, the inside is overcrowded and chaos pure.
So we repacked our bags again to 25kg each and two big bags of hand luggage each... because we had a bit too much luggage on the way to Manila on the last flight and the MNL-BKK flight said only 20KG aloud... hmm. Then surprisingly the lady at the check in counter did not ask why, and what and how and pay... NO - I put my bag on the scale and all she said was "Is that all sir? Only one golf bag?" So absolutely no problem... Thai Air - smooth as silk - is the real truth!!! We actually asked the lady after the check in, how much we could check in with our golf bags and she said up to 30kg... NICE.
They actually serve proper food in the airplane and drinks till u gotta say "No thanx I still have some." Not the usual "please can I have some water..." If u spend a few dollars more on the ticket, u will save it on the food and luggage.

After the arrival in Bangkok we took the Sky train to NANA station and went straight to my favorite Hostel in Bangkok, SUK11, an institution in Bangkok's hostel world, right behind Cheap Charlie’s Bar. We made it more or less dry to the hostel, dropped of the luggage and went straight out again... off in search for food. Noodle Soup first, followed by shopping, then Pad Thai and Somtam...ohhh I love the street food here...
I think most of the Songkran madness was over already by the time of our arrival, just here and there were some drunk, wet people crawling around. The left over’s of a hard day of water fight.
But it aint over yet... 
We pulled a shopping day to make all the homies happy (-: while outside MBK and Soi11 the water splashing kept going.

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Roadtrip - Sagada-Baguio-Laoag-Pagudpud - Part 3

Sagada-Baguio-Laoag-Pagudpud
 

After the good times in Sagada we had another big roadtrip ahead… first 6h ride from Sagada to Baguio starting at 5AMfollowed by a short lunch break and a 8h bus ride to Laoag.. finally arriving there around 8PM.. to much for my bum… we didn’t wanna go any further after this mayhem of bus rides, so we spend the night here. The hotel we found, called Texicano was actually not very nice, but at least it seem to be safe and cheap. We actually found a SM mall in town and went there for a short stroll and my first MC Donalds meal after at least 6month.

So the next morning we had to do another short (2h) local bus trip up to Pagudpud to finally reach Kingfisher, the whole reason why we brought that big kitebag with us all over the mountains. One thing is for sure, backpacking and kitesurfing, does not fit together! From the center of town we managed to get a trike to get us to kingfisher on the north tip of Illiocos Norte. When we finally arrived around midday, all the other guys were there already and just about to pack up the gear to go to another spot for today. It was the windmill lagoon in the Bangui Bay. It’s about a 30min drive from kingfisher and it’s well worth it. You will have the flat and fresh water lagoon all for yourself. We ripped the whole afternoon in the lagoon till the sun went down.

All starving from a day of excellent kiting we went for dinner at Restaurant Bergblick, run by a German and it is very recommendable! Day nr.2 in Kingfisher we finally had a kite session here. The waves were not as high as expected but the wind was definitely strong… to strong for the light kiters. So if u ever plan to come up here, u gotta bring your smallest kite, and if that is a 10m kite then better forget it or come in the end of season which supposed to be around May. I had a good session with some nice turns in the waves and boosting big airs.

The next morning we had a very nice session, again on the 7m switchblade full on power. The waves calmed down a bit over night, and so did the wind, and it felt actually a bit more stable.

After this session we had to leave, getting all of our belongings onto a trycicle which is made for people max. 150cm tall... so right here we're sitting now in the freeeezing cold internet coffee and trying to update our websites. Waiting for the nightbus (sleeper bus) to Manila. We spend 800Peso on tzhe bus but save a night in a hotel or an expensive flight.

So we're off to manila and Bangkok now.. and i hope i can write the last updates soon... it's probably gonna be wet in bangkok as Songkran just started...

pictures to this blog will come soon as well...

Thx to Mon for all the good tips and spot guide at Kingfisher, we'll be back next season.. with smaller kites and a surfboard for sure (-:

xx

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Roadtrip - Banaue-Bontoc-Sagada - Part 2

Banaue – Bontoc - Sagad

After lunch in Banaue, Becks and me decided to take the bus to Bontoc and Sagada, we heard some stories about a landslide that happened a few days ago and he said it was impossible to pass with a car we have to change the bus there. As usual no space inside the bus so up on the roof again.. we really like it, u can see so much more from the country side, just be careful with the hanging cables in the villages. After about an hour drive along the Cordillera we finally came to the mudslide.. but honestly it was more like a landslide, half of the mountain came down and the road was buried under a few 1000qubik meters of rock and mud. We had to wait for a while as the tried to clean it up a bit more and make a small path to walk along. Busses arrived from both sides; all passengers walked through the debris field and catch the next bus on the other side. But it wasn’t so easy as the whole thing was not really stable and rocks kept coming down while people run across and I had to do that run with a kite bag on my shoulder.. ok most of the locals had some bean bags or rice bags on their heads as well. So ones the road worker gave us the ok we run for our lives.. and for the adrenaline rush of it (-: We made it without a scratch but a little worried about the rest of the road, as u can see landslides every 500m on this cordillera road. When they built this road they mostly just dug the road into the mountainside but did not support much of the shoulder. They also had some little earthquakes here lately.
The second half of the ride was really scenic, passing through rice terraces, green valleys and pine forest vegetation all the way to Bontoc. The whole price for the ride was 100PHP for the first leg and another 70PHP for the second leg.. but the driver told us that the normal price would only be 140… so I donno but I think math is not a major thing in the Philippines.

Bontoc has a good charm and I think it would be worth a revisit with a few more hours to spend around town. We headed straight for the tourist info to find out about the next possible ride up to Sagada, probably the most popular backpacker town in the Philippines. We got the info about jeepnees going up there for very cheap, so we went to the location where they supposed to leave and ask a young lady about the next possible ride, she said “oh sorry sir no more today”. So we got a bit worried if we can still make it up there or not, but while we discussed our options a jeepnee arrived heading for Sagada. The young local girl also jumped on the bus with a few other people, so we had a ride on the roof again.

 


Sagada is famous for its hanging coffins, few big caves, waterfalls, endless hikes and the best Mary Jane in the Philippines.

We decided to stay here for more than one night, so we can relax a bit and do some sightseeing.  We had a really disappointing dinner in Masferré restaurant, meat tasted like few weeks old and we got served more fat than actual meat. I’m used to a lot of not really mouth watering food here in the Philippines but this was probably the worst in the last 6month.

So for the next night we made a reservation at one of the best restaurants in town, called the Log cabin, a French chef is cooking at his best. Pork chop as tender as it gets with a creamy sauce, fresh salad with local herbs, homemade bread!! And a blueberry cream with chocolate cake.. uahhhh.. if u ever come here and it happens to be a Saturday night, make ur reservation early during the day and you also have to pay a deposit, but you will definitely not be disappointed.
The second day was filled with walking around town and checking out the hanging coffins and a cave with an underground river, and yeah.. souvenir shopping, because we don’t have enough oversize luggage yet (-:

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Roadtrip to Banaue/Batad/Sagada - part1

So finally we managed to get out of Boracay for good and started our journey to the north part of the Philippines.
Kalibo – Manila
First we had some troubles with Airphil, which messed up our flight, so we had to reschedule the day before departure, but we still managed to get to Manila in time. We prebooked 25kg each and it wasn't enough.. we had about 65kg… but with a smile and some good will we only paid 750PHP extra.
We got the great opportunity from our beloved friend Anna to store some of our gear in her house in Manila till we come back from our trip, and we definitely had to do that, as we were not keen to travel around the mountains with 65kg… So from manila airport.. with only 1h delay we took off to Anna's house, then to Sampaloc bus station.. all in all 2h taxi ride for tataaaa 500.-PHP (12$)

Banaue
So off we went from manila in the Deluxe night bus… no sleeper! Towards Banaue, this is famous for the 8th world wonder, the rice terraces. So after a more or less good night of sleep and a few meters more obove sea level we arrived early morning, our friends actually also made it all the way with a rental car. After a good breakfast we made the plan to go the Batad, that's where the real terraces are. So we discussed for a while if we could make it or not with the rental car, as all the locals told as it would be impossible… and let's just say we made the right decision at the end.. we rented a jepnee for 2000PHP. I think it was much more fun with the jeepnee as we could all sit on the roof instead of inside and some liked to stop the bus evry few meters to take a picture of another rice paddie. We could have made the road to Batad junction with our car but the last 3km up to the saddle were impossible it looked more like a muddy river bed than a road but the jepnee made it.



Batad
So from the saddle the hike begins with a steep decent down to Batad town, along the way we met an older guy named June, he looked at least 65 years old.. but he might have been older, but fit as a mountain goat. He was running down that mountain like an 18year old. So when we reach the town we were stunned by the amphitheater like rice terraces, they are manmade and up to 2000years old. After a short stretch and some food we decided to make the trip down to the waterfall. We crossed the rice paddies to the far end and found ourselves looking down a steep wall towards the waterfall.. so here we go, already tired from the downhill walk to Batad but still dumb enough to push ourselves further.. so we continued down the few hundreds.. Feeling more like thousands of steps towards the river. I think that's where my old knee injury started to come back an gave me a hard time with each step.
At the end of the descent we found the nice 30m **waterfall, and we were all alone, as all other groups with guides left already. A nice big pool of freshwater and so much mist up in the air, that it was hard to get a good picture before the lens was all wet.

So if u go down.. u gotta get back up, and I must admit it was steeeeep and very sweaty, but I pushed myself up with a cold San Miguel in my mind, waiting at the top of the stairs. I had a little chat up there with a local family, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Then someone (no names shall be said.. right kathrin?) had the great argument to walk through the small village back up to the hotel. It's really a wonderful experience to walk along the rice paddies and stone arcades.

So in the village I had a great laugh.. as Kathrin tried the beetle nut with some local guy.. I videotaped the whole thing.. haahhaa she was very brave and didn't throw up…

After that mr Lonley Planet (myself (:) found our way back up to the hostel through gardens, stone walls and few thousand more stairs. After all that I just had enough energy for some dinner and I think we all went to sleep around 9PM…

So next morning.. wake up 6AM… breakfast with a 1million dollar view followed by a walk all the way back up to the saddle with kinda sore muscles.


There we took the public jepnee this time for much less, only 150PHP per head. The ride was fun as half of the people had to sit on the roof again.

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check out the KTA Boracay Video Teaser

another great shot from our cameraman Frenchie, the full report to come soon...!
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